Leica M11-D: The screen that never was

Our Leica M11-D arrived earlier this month, and I am excited about the possibility of putting it through its paces over the coming winter. I’m no stranger to the idea of a digital camera without a screen. Far from it. From the moment I saw the M Edition 60 when it was announced in July 2015, I was captivated. The idea of a screenless rangefinder is something close to my heart.

John Reynolds treated us to his review of a year’s shooting with this rather exotic special camera, while Hamish Gill tested the limited-issue shooter. As he said, “The Leica M Edition 60 is possibly one of the most enigmatic cameras Leica have built”. However, the M Edition 60 was a special edition, with its curiously omitted strap lugs. It was carryable only by using the supplied grey leather half case, which had the straps attached.

I loved the concept, and I yearned for a serial version of the screenless M. It would appeal to those who like the simplicity of a film camera with the convenience of digital. Tongue in cheek, I suggested that the SD card should be limited to storing just 36 exposures.

In the queue

With this level of pent-up enthusiasm, I was head of the queue when the first serial screenless camera, the Leica M-D was launched at a cost of £4,650 including UK tax in April 2016.

Compare that with the £8,100 tag on the latest M11-D. My long-term review of the M-D camera appeared in July 2016. Additionally, we carried several in-depth articles on the M-D during its relatively short life.

In fact, I loved that camera, and I was again an early buyer of the M10-D when it appeared in October 2018. This was it, I thought. It’s my digital for the next decade, as I wrote in May 2019. Again, we carried extensive coverage of the really excellent M10-D, and Jonathan Slack produced a great long-term review of the second version of the screenless warrior.

Despite my good intentions to stick with the M10-D until the end of time, I wavered in August 2020 when the camera was prematurely discontinued just over 15 months later in August 2020. I misinterpreted Leica’s intentions, as it turned out.

Mistakenly, I assumed the camera was discontinued because of poor sales. Yet, the real reason was that it shared a production line with the M10 (which was stopped at the same time) and had to make way for the expansion of demand for the higher-resolution M10-R.

Enter the M11

While I wasn’t tempted by the M10-R, despite Jono’s glowing review, I was keen to try the M11, which I expected to be launched in late 2021. As it happened, this 60MP camera was delayed until January 2022 because of the COVID-19 emergency. In 2021, I sold my trusted M10-D in favour of joining the M11 waiting list. Although I had had high hopes for the M10-D, I felt I needed to keep up with the latest developments. Not least because I needed to write about the new M.

As it happened, that was a blunder. I confess to having misread the tea leaves. I should have stuck to my guns, not because I was disappointed with the M11 (far from it) but because the old M10-D has been a big hit on the used market. If you can find one, it costs more than the original 2018 launch price. So when I got the first whiff of an M11-D, about a year ago, I wished I had kept the M10-D and waited. It would have been a much cheaper option.

Screenless lovers arise

The launch of the M11-D two weeks ago was a great occasion for lovers of the screenless digital rangefinder. Not only is the new camera the best yet, it underlines Leica’s commitment to continuing the line.

For me, it is all the rangefinder I need. If I want all the bells and whistles of the electronic age, the Q3 or SL fills the breach. I find rangefinder photography restful, mechanically precise, and the best bet for zone-focus street use. I’m a happy bunny again.

When I collected the new Leica M11-D from Red Dot Cameras in London on Monday, it had been sitting there for ten days during my absence in Greece. I was there at first call to collect it, on the way to meeting our US associate editor, Keith James, for the first time. We examined the M11-D together over a chicken tikka masala in London’s Brick Lane.

Off into the sunset

Returning home, the battery was put on charge and spent three fruitless hours looking for the M11 handgrip, which I was sure I had purchased. Absolutely no sign of it, and frustration was high.

Two days later, after repeated searches, I realised it was the Q3 handgrip I had bought, not the M11.

Silly me, but with all these new cameras, there’s some excuse to get confused. Meanwhile, I had dusted off the superb Arte di Mano leather half-case that I had ordered for the M11.

The case is a perfect fit all round and, from the front at least, looks the business. Wonderful. Less so around the back, where there is something distinctly missing: The screen that never was.

Actually, I shouldn’t complain. The window in the leather shows off the newly crafted ISO dial to perfection and leaves no doubt that this is probably a real, genuine film camera. The M11 case will do, for the moment, until I can get the genuine M11-D creation from my friend So-jun Kim in Seoul. Arte di Mano are now taking orders for the new case, with a lead time of about three months. Can’t wait for that.

I finished off the ensemble with an unusual and highly desirable lens, the 35mm Summilux Steel Rim, as recreated by Leica in October 2022 and reviewed here by the industrious Jonathan Slack. My new M11-D now looks the business.

The kit is complete. The camera with the screen that never was.

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